If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.

The Muscle and Brawn Forum is dedicated to no nonsense muscle and strength building. If you need advice that works, you have come to the right place. This forum focuses on building strength and muscle using the basics. You will also find that the Muscle and Brawn community stresses encouragement and respect. Trolls and name calling are not allowed here. No matter what your personal goals are, you will be given effective advice that produces results.

Please consider registering. It takes 30 seconds, and will allow you to get the most out of the forum.

Thinking really hard in start my own gym. I still have 9 more years to go in the Army which allows me to save at least $100 per month, buy some more equipment, have a detail plan, analyze my retirement options and more. But how hard can be? Don't want to be rich but at least enough to paid bills and enjoy my sport.

Anybody here feel the same? To do what you love, help others and compete from time to time without respond to somebody else???

I want to do the same, however there seems to be a lack of people in my area that would appreciate such a gym.

You could make a really small, invite-only, keycard access, operation. Rack, bench, db's, etc, fit it in like 500sq/ft, and just try to get enough people to pay the bills, maybe do some personal training out of it

I want to do the same, however there seems to be a lack of people in my area that would appreciate such a gym.

You could make a really small, invite-only, keycard access, operation. Rack, bench, db's, etc, fit it in like 500sq/ft, and just try to get enough people to pay the bills, maybe do some personal training out of it

Yeah, they have a similar set-up here somewhere, I've yet to locate it...but it's a gym that allows chalk, deadlift and decent squat stuff, that you can access anytime because you have a key, there's a membership fee (which isn't that high, from what I can tell)...I may search it out, one day. From what I gather it's just a smallish but big enough outbuilding, so concrete floors etc.

Yes, that's what I'm thinking. Some small operation with 24 hour pass, nothing to fancy. I can spread the word really fast among dif meet competitors and do special invitations. I'm thinking that insurance and business registration would be the hardest part.

I'm planning to buy a monolift within a year from now and of course more bars and plates within the next couple years. I want to take that out of the way to don't use any money from my retirement or credit line.

The iron is there during my times of happiness, sadness and anger. The iron is there available through the 4 seasons and inclement weather. The iron is there to either comfort me or motivate me. The Iron manages to show me how strong I am or how humble I need to be. The iron does not yell, but it always demands respect. The iron is not a disciplinarian, but when disrespected, I feel it for a long time. The iron does not love or hate, but we definitely share a strong bond. And no matter how far I stay away or for how long, the iron is there, waiting to be lifted.

I'm at fort Eustis, VA right now but plan to move back to Clarksville, TN close to Fort Campbell. The closest powerlifting gym there is around 3.5 hours either direction. I have a house down there so move is not an issue. TN & KY is a big SPF niche. I guess I can spread the word also in the Army community there.

It's just like any other business. There are lots of ways to get into it.

If you want it to be a hardcore powerlifting focused place, then you're looking for a niche crowd which means there would be less people overall using your services. Thusly, you would probably have to charge more while also doing other things to cut down your costs. These could include having primarily used gear (gyms are closing all the time and there are brokers who specialize in used equipment from gyms that are liquidating outdated or worn out equipment) and also finding a location that's out of the way and harder to find.

You should be able to find a small, out of the way warehouse for very little money, which is ok if your serving a niche crowd because information about you would primarily spread through word of mouth as opposed to spreading because you have some flashy location that a lot of people see every day.

I used to work for a piano store. The location would have been horrible for most types of stores, but because we were selling something that only 1 other place sold locally we could get away with having a location with a tiny parking lot that was extremely hard to get into. The same applies to a small hardcore gym. People won't mind going out of their way to get to something if no one else is offering it.

I actually plan to start building a better home gym over the coming years, and eventually allowing other people similiar to myself to start training there. Eventually, if there are enough people and there's enough interest I may actually get a location like the one I was describing above and make a business out of it. Just for fun though. I don't plan to ever make enough from that alone to support me financially.